Introduction:
Three Advantages of Being Single: (1 Corinthians 7:25-40)
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You're Saved from CERTAIN TROUBLES. (1 Cor 7:26-28)
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You're Saved from DISTRACTION. (1 Cor 7:29-38)
Matthew 22:30 – For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
Colossians 3:2 – Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
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You’re Saved from OBLIGATION. (1 Cor 7:39-40)
Matthew 19:10 – The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:37-00:41
Open up those Bibles to 1 Corinthians and chapter 7.
00:44-00:49
And while we do, I'm just going to ask that you would just pause with me here.
00:49-00:58
You pray for me, that I will communicate God's word as I should, clearly and accurately and straightforwardly.
00:58-01:03
I will pray for you, that your heart would be open to receive what God wants to teach us today.
01:03-01:06
All right, so let's just take a moment and pray.
01:10-01:19
Father, be glorified through the proclamation of Your Word, through receiving Your Word and being doers of Your Word.
01:20-01:23
Be glorified in all things, we pray in Jesus' name.
01:24-01:41
And all of God's people said, "Amen." Several years ago, a friend of mine told me about this single friend that he has who was sitting home one day and got a phone call.
01:42-02:10
The phone rang, he picked it up, and he's like, "Hello?" And the voice on the other end said, "Hi, would you be interested in meeting a lot of exciting available singles in your area?" And the man said, "I got enough problems." It's funny, but that's really the heart of this passage that we're looking at today.
02:14-02:23
See, in 1 Corinthians 7, we've seen that marriage is a gift, and God has given married people a wedding present that they are to use appropriately.
02:25-02:29
And we've seen that for some people, being single is a gift.
02:32-02:37
But each one brings their own set of issues.
02:38-02:47
And the Corinthians were writing to Paul, asking for counsel, and Paul was writing this letter back to them, giving them counsel.
02:48-02:50
Look at verse 25.
02:52-03:15
Paul says, "Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy." You see, he says, "Now concerning." We saw that again back in chapter 7 verse 1.
03:15-03:20
It seems that Paul was going through a list of things that they brought up.
03:20-03:21
He goes, "Okay, let me tell you about this.
03:22-03:32
Okay, now let me tell you about this issue you brought up." It's kind of a Q&A format, and he says the next subject here is the betrothed.
03:32-03:35
Some translations say virgins.
03:35-03:38
He's talking to the singles.
03:41-03:42
All the single ladies.
03:44-04:08
that song? Get your hand up. I studied that dance this week and I was going to do it for you, but I looked at myself in the mirror and I do not dance like Beyonce. So maybe Maybe some other time.
04:12-04:17
But last week we saw Pastor Taylor talked about commitment.
04:17-04:19
That was in the previous passage, commitment.
04:20-04:22
Trust God where He has you, right?
04:22-04:24
Bloom where you are planted.
04:27-04:30
And I was thinking about that through the context of the whole passage.
04:31-05:08
Paul's talking about marriage and sexuality and singles issues, and then he talks about contentment, and then in this passage he's addressing the singles. Like why that flow? Why did he insert contentment right in the middle of that? And I think it's because there are certain aspects of being single that make it hard to be content. And here's what I mean by that. I think especially in the church there difficulties in being single.
05:09-05:13
Because I mean, think about it, in church, marriage is exalted.
05:15-05:19
In church, you see many godly marriages.
05:20-05:28
You sit and you watch infant dedications, and I think for singles there's a real sense of FOMO, right?
05:30-05:35
So this passage we're looking at today, mostly, is for the single people.
05:37-05:53
And if you're tempted to be like, "Oh, this ain't for me, I'm tuning out." I would say, "You are forbidden to tune out of this message." We expect our single people to sit through series on marriage, series on parenting.
05:54-06:00
We're like, "You need to listen to this, you need to listen to this, you know married people, so you should listen to this." You know single people, all right?
06:01-06:05
And maybe the Lord will open a door for you to be able to encourage them with some things in here.
06:05-06:06
All right?
06:07-06:09
So if I see you tuning out, I'm gonna throw a Bible at you.
06:12-06:12
All right?
06:12-06:18
So Paul says here, don't worry, it'll be a soft cover, not like a MacArthur study Bible or anything.
06:19-06:28
But Paul says here, I have no command for the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy.
06:28-06:29
We talked about this before.
06:30-06:38
All Paul is saying here is the Lord, Jesus Christ, did not specifically address these singles issues during His earthly ministry.
06:38-06:41
It wasn't...being single is not a moral issue.
06:42-06:45
Jesus didn't really go into depth in addressing this.
06:46-06:46
Right?
06:48-07:03
He says, "I don't have a quote for you from Jesus." When it comes to divorce, Paul said, "I got quotes for you from Jesus about divorce." Jesus was crystal on that, but I don't have a quote from Jesus really about these aspects of being single.
07:03-07:08
But Paul's like, "Hey, you can trust me." Right?
07:09-07:24
And he goes on in this passage to say, "It's good to be single." Actually, he says it's in many ways better to be single.
07:24-07:27
It's wiser to be single.
07:29-07:37
Right now the singles among us might have heard that last statement and thought, "What's so great about being single?
07:39-07:40
What's so great about it?
07:42-07:44
What is it, the loneliness?
07:46-07:47
Is that what's so great about it?
07:49-07:54
Is it the stigma that people put on you, like, "Oh, you're single.
07:54-07:58
What's wrong with you?" Is that the great part of being single, Pastor Jeff?
08:00-08:05
Is it going to the soda shop, Pastor Jeff, and eating the wet walnut sundae by yourself?
08:12-08:14
Is it all the people that try to play Cupid?
08:15-08:16
Is that the great part?
08:17-08:21
You know, I got this co-worker, it'd be great for you.
08:22-08:24
Both of his teeth are really clean," and whatever.
08:28-08:30
I can't wait to meet him.
08:32-08:33
Is that the great part, Pastor Jeff?
08:34-08:35
Is it the FOMO, Pastor Jeff?
08:36-08:36
Is it?
08:36-08:38
What's the great part, Pastor Jeff?
08:39-08:40
What's the great part?
08:41-08:46
Well, this is what the Lord said, okay?
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This isn't Jeff's opinion, this is God's opinion.
08:49-08:52
So on your outline, I want you to jot some things down.
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Here's three advantages of being single.
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All right, three advantages of being single.
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Oh, right, sorry.
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I beg your pardon.
09:12-09:13
I have a disclaimer.
09:17-09:20
I have been happily married since 2002.
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Despite what Paul says about singleness, I am very thankful for my beautiful, talented, and intelligent wife.
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I acknowledge that I married up.
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Her presence daily enhances my life in every way.
09:41-09:46
And then it says at the bottom, you better read this and sound convincing, love Aaron.
09:47-09:48
(congregation laughing)
09:57-09:58
I am thankful to be married.
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That was what God had for me, but God might not have that for you.
10:06-10:07
All right, he gives different gifts to different people.
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So if you're single, here's three advantages of being single.
10:11-10:15
Number one, write this down, you're saved from certain troubles.
10:16-10:19
You're saved from certain troubles.
10:22-10:25
And here's the point, I'm gonna give you the heads up and we're gonna see it in the text.
10:25-10:34
What Paul's saying here is there are troubles married people have that single people do not have, okay?
10:34-10:36
That's why the word certain is in there.
10:37-10:40
Not, save from all troubles, everybody's got troubles, okay?
10:40-10:41
Everybody's got troubles.
10:41-10:47
But there are certain troubles that married people have that single people have the luxury of not having, all right?
10:48-10:53
And he gives them in two categories, and the first one is present distress.
10:53-10:57
You can write that down on your outline underneath number one, distress.
10:57-10:58
Look at verse 26.
11:00-11:13
Paul says, "I think that in view of the present distress, It is good for a person to remain as he is, obviously, or as she is.
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Okay, what's the distress?
11:15-11:16
What's the distress?
11:16-11:21
Well, some translations translate that violence.
11:22-11:23
Violence.
11:24-11:28
It's just simply hardships of living in a violent world.
11:29-11:37
And Paul's like, "Hey, hey, the world's a violent place, so it's probably better, single that you're not married for that reason.
11:38-11:49
See for the Corinthians, about 15 years after they would have received this letter, they endured horrible persecution that lasted for 200 years.
11:51-11:52
And I think Paul knew that.
11:53-11:55
Like, the world's a violent place.
11:58-12:00
But see, this principle isn't just for them.
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I mean, isn't the world a violent and evil place today?
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I mean, do I really have to sell you on that?
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I mean, look at all the school shootings and sex trafficking, all the wars.
12:15-12:20
I wrote this before the events of yesterday, the events of yesterday happened.
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The wars.
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The war for your kids, all the gay and transgender stuff pushed in schools, the persecution for simply believing the Bible, Charlie Kirk, remember him?
12:36-12:44
So I would ask you, church, when Paul talks about violence to the Corinthians in our day, are we getting better or are we getting worse?
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Which is it?
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Can you really turn on the news and be like, oh yeah, there was violence back in that day, but I think things are pretty safe now, right?
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Could you say that?
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Of course not.
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And I was thinking about this a lot this past week.
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What era of human history was perfectly safe?
13:06-13:07
To have a wife and kids.
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Is there any?
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Can you point to an era and be like, "Yeah, this was the sweet spot right here in human history that it was…everything was safe." You see, such violence has extra implications if you have a spouse.
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If you have a spouse, many times you also eventually have children.
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Such violence has implications for spouse and kids, right?
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What I mean is, look, I'm not afraid of being attacked personally.
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I'm not.
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Like, whatever.
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I mean, somebody doesn't like the sermon and they slip past security and come up and shoot me or whatever.
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Okay, whatever.
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See you in heaven.
13:56-14:03
But I've got a wife and kids, and the thought of them being in danger is terrifying to me.
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To think that they're in danger and I can't protect them and I can't be there.
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That's what Paul's talking about here.
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You see, if I suffer, whatever, but if they suffer, that is way more painful than any suffering that I can endure.
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That's why Paul says there in verse 26, he says, "Remain as he is." That's better.
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"Remain as he is." He clarifies that though.
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Look, he clarifies.
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Look at verse 27.
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He says, "Are you bound to a wife?
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Do not seek to be free.
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Are you free from a wife?
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Do not seek a wife." He says, "Married, stay married.
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Single stay single.
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Did you get a divorce?
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Stay as you are.
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He's saying singles might be wise to pump the brakes on getting married in view of just how violent the world is.
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You see that?
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There's a second category of trouble.
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We saw the presence of stress.
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The next one is that worldly troubles.
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Look at verse 28.
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This is a little different though.
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Verse 28, he says, "But if you do marry, you have not sinned.
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And if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned.
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Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that." Stop there.
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There's worldly troubles.
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I mean, he says, "A marriage isn't sin, obviously." He goes, "But it brings trouble." There's conflict within marriage, right?
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He already addressed there's conflict that comes from outside, but there's also conflict that comes from the inside.
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What I mean is, you know, I have to deal with my own sin issues.
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I am incredibly selfish.
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I can be incredibly prideful, and I can be horribly irritable.
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I got those issues going on.
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Now, I get married and I got to deal with my wife's sin issues.
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I mean, not my wife.
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I mean, but you see the point.
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You got your sin issues, whoever you marry is going to have sin issues.
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The potential for misery in marriage is worse than for singles.
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Like yeah, singles are going to deal with their own sin, married people, the amount of sin just doubled in the home.
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people get married thinking it's going to fix everything, right?
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People get married thinking, you know, "I have these physical urges, and if I just get married, all those urges are going to be fixed." It's not always true, right?
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Or people are like, "I'm incredibly lonely.
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I'm just so lonely, and if I get married, I won't be lonely." That's not always true either.
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Sometimes these things just get worse, right?
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Desire for intimacy gets worse when you have a spouse you want to be with but is unresponsive.
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Loneliness gets worse when you live with someone who resents you.
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So if you're single and you're on the fence, "Should I get married?
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Maybe I'll wait till the end of the sermon to decide.
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What should I do?" If you're single, "Oh, I wish I had a string.
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My previous church, I had a string of marriage counseling sessions I was going through, and I so wish, single people, that I could take you into these marriage counseling sessions and have you sit in the corner and just watch." That would make up your mind for you because you would walk out of there going, "I am so thankful that I don't got to deal with that." Potential for misery in marriage is worse than the potential for misery in singles.
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That's what Paul's saying.
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I mean even if conflict isn't the big issue, I mean there's plenty of other worldly troubles, right?
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like sickness, for example.
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I mean, I remember back when I was single, and that was a difficult season in my life.
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But do you know what's harder than being single?
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You know what's harder is watching a sick wife suffer.
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That's harder.
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You know what's harder than being single is watching a sick child that you've prayed for for decades not get better.
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That's harder than being single.
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Now this is Paul's whole point here.
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Look, life is hard.
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Life is hard for everyone.
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I mean, the Bible is crystal on that.
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Life is hard for everyone, but getting married invites other elements of trouble.
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The world is violent, my wife is violent.
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Single people are saved from that.
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I guess that's number one.
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Number two, three advantages of being single, you're safe from certain troubles.
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Number two, you're safe from distraction.
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You're safe from distraction.
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Marriage brings distraction, and he gives two ways that it does.
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First of all, you lose your perspective on priorities, and second of all, you get distracted by the duty of taking care of a family, right?
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So let's talk about these.
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Let's break them down.
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One distraction, losing perspective on priorities.
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Look at verse 29, he says, "This is what I mean, brothers.
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The appointed time has grown very short.
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From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none." You've got to read it in its context.
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If you pull that verse out of its context, you're thinking it says something way different than it does, okay?
20:48-20:50
So you've got to listen to the rest of us.
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He is not saying…He is not saying…everybody say, "Not saying." He is not saying, "Detach from your wife." He's not saying that at all.
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The context makes it clear what He is saying.
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Look, verse 30, He goes, "And those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it.
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For the present form of this world is passing away." See, what's he saying?
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Look at the context.
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Mourning, rejoicing, stuff, doing business, that's all earth stuff.
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Right?
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That is all stuff for here and now.
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Paul's saying, "Don't live as if this is all there is." You realize so many people live as if they are going to be here forever, and you're not.
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None of us are.
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That's what Paul's talking about here.
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You're mourning, you're going through a hard time, it's temporary.
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You're not going to be mourning in heaven over that.
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Oh, and you're rejoicing, you had the greatest day of your life?
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Okay, that's not going to mean anything in heaven.
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Right?
22:19-22:20
Oh, you're worried about your stuff?
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He ain't taking it with you.
22:22-22:24
Earthly dealings, you're not going to be doing that in heaven.
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It's all earth stuff.
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And then he says, "Life as we know it on earth, it's all passing away, including marriage." I mean, all of these things in his list, he's saying these things all look different in light of eternity.
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And don't let these things distract you from the big picture.
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Do you know what the big picture is?
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The big picture is you were created by God to spend a certain amount of time on this earth.
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But you were born with a sinful nature we inherited from the first man.
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You were born with a nature to rebel against your Creator.
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Not to do what He wants you to do, but to do whatever you want to do.
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You're selfish too, just like me.
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And someday you're going to stand before that God who created you.
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That God that you've rebelled against, someday you're going to stand before Him.
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He just sang about what kind of God He is.
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Holy forever.
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You rebellious sinner are going to stand before the holy God that you rebelled against.
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You deserve the worst that He could give you, which is hell, eternal separation from Him.
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But because He loves you so much, He sent His Son to die on the cross on your behalf, to take your sin penalty on Himself.
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When Jesus was on the cross, God was pouring out His wrath on Jesus, the wrath that I deserve and the wrath that you deserve.
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Then Jesus rose from the dead so that we too can have the promise of eternal life.
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That is the big picture.
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So whether you buy or sell, you had a great day, a horrible day.
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you get married or not, you're going to stand before a God who is going to judge you.
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But if you are in Christ, there is no condemnation.
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You are not guilty.
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You are forgiven.
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No sin will ever be held against you.
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That is the big picture.
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And Paul is saying, "Do not let the stuff of the earth, including marriage, distract you from that." He's just simply putting things into perspective.
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Right?
24:59-25:02
Even marriage is not eternal.
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Jesus said this in Matthew 22.
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He says, "For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven." Marriage is a "for now on earth" thing.
25:20-25:20
Right?
25:20-25:21
not for heaven.
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We have it for now on earth.
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Why?
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For partnership, right?
25:28-25:31
For pleasure, for procreation.
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All the purposes that marriage fulfill, those purposes aren't going to exist in heaven.
25:40-25:44
We're not going to need them fulfilled the way that they're fulfilled on earth.
25:46-25:52
I was thinking about this this week and I thought back to my days in elementary school.
25:55-26:05
I remember there were kids that would go skiing over the weekend and then they'd come to school on Monday.
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Some of you remember this?
26:07-26:09
They'd come to school on Monday with their winter jacket on.
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Remember what they still had hanging on their winter jacket?
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Your lift pass, remember that?
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They'd walk in.
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(groans)
26:27-26:29
What'd you do over the weekend, Joey?
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It was such a badge of honor.
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You're like, why are you making fun of him?
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Because I was so jealous.
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That's why.
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It was such a badge of honor, wasn't it, to walk into school.
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You're not laughing because you were those kids, weren't you?
26:52-26:54
You were those ski lift tag kids.
26:59-27:01
I kind of laugh because you know what?
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That lift tag was very useful for a time, wasn't it?
27:06-27:09
I mean, when you're skiing, that thing is super useful.
27:09-27:11
It has great purpose.
27:11-27:16
"Oh, you're skiing, it has great purpose." But then when you show up at school, what is it?
27:16-27:18
It's just a piece of garbage hanging from your coat.
27:20-27:21
It doesn't mean anything.
27:22-27:24
Like, dude, you don't need that.
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You don't need to ride the lift to the cafeteria.
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You don't need the ski tag.
27:32-27:34
And that's really, same thing with marriage.
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Like, hey, married, I got a beautiful wife, she's awesome.
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It's like, yes, but you're not going to need a wife in heaven, because every relationship is going to be perfect.
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Paul's saying what he says in Colossians 3 too, right?
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Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
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Don't let marriage distract you from your spiritual life.
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Don't let marriage make you lose perspective on your priorities? Because it does. There are people, there are some people here that work more on their marriage than they do on their personal walk with Jesus Christ. That's a problem. That's backwards. If you worked more on your personal walk with Jesus Christ, things in your marriage would get a whole lot better. But marriage distracts us from focusing on eternity because marriage, as God's Word tells us, divides our interests.
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Look at verse 32.
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Paul says, "I want you to be free from anxieties.
28:55-29:00
The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord." How to please the Lord.
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But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife.
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And his interests are divided.
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And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit.
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But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband.
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Any single people can serve Jesus undistracted because the single person only has one set of cares.
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The married person is divided.
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That's what he's saying.
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The married person says, "I really do want to serve Christ.
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I really do want to give everything to Jesus, but I also have this God-given responsibility to take care of my family.
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My interests are divided." So, singles better.
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You're like, "Man, that sounds legalistic." Look at verse 35.
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Paul says, "I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord." See that's exactly what Paul is saying here, he says, "I'm not being legalistic." He says, "This is for your benefit." But don't think that married people are second-class citizens.
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Right?
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Verse 36, he says, "If anyone thinks he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes.
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Let them marry, it is no sin.
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But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity, but having his desires under control and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better." You're like, "What is he talking about here?" This would have made way more sense to the original audience of this letter. Understand here, Paul is talking specifically here to fathers of unmarried daughters. The fathers had decision-making power in the matter of marriage for their daughters. Like, well that sounds very weird. Not really. Even today, I mean, isn't there the custom of when you want to get married to a woman, don't you go to her father and ask for her hand in marriage? Where do you think that comes from. Right? Same principle. But understand, Paul's just, once again, even in that, he's laying out the same thing he's been saying through this whole chapter, specifically through this whole passage. He goes, "If they get married, great. And if they remain single," He's like, "That's even better.
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It's even better." Paul says here in this section that when it comes to serving Jesus, single people have an advantage.
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Now, understand, single people, single people understand before you go out and get your ski tag, understand he's not saying single people are more spiritual than married people.
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He is not saying that.
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Single people are not automatically more devoted to Jesus than married people.
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He is not saying that.
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You're like, "Well, what is he saying?" He's saying single people have the greater potential in their service to Jesus Christ.
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All right?
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people, consider how much of your resources goes to just taking care of your family, right? How much time does your family require? How much money do you spend on your family? How much energy does your family get? And the answer is Because they get all of all the above, right?
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And Paul here is simply saying, "Single people, you have tremendous opportunity, capacity, and potential to serve Christ because you're saved from the distractions that come from having to take care of a family." Right?
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Single people?
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Single people?
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You want to spend extra time in prayer and the Word today?
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You can do that without a bunch of little people running up to you going...and you're like, "I fed you yesterday." Well, you've got to feed them today too.
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Single people don't got to worry about that.
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Single people, you want to go on a mission trip?
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You know what, this Vision Appalachia thing, I'm about that, I'm gone.
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I'm going to talk to Bob Brown, I'm gone.
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Single people can do that, like at the drop of a hat.
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Or hey, next trip to Thailand, I am there.
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No problem.
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Single people can do that because you don't have to factor in the schedules of several other people.
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Right?
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Single people, you're like, "Oh, it's a prayer service tonight at church." You don't have to worry if you're going to miss it because your spouse is working late or Joey has yet another lacrosse tournament.
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That's like the fifth one today.
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Single people don't got to worry about that.
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That's all Paul's saying here.
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Oh, and P.S., history is full of single people that God has used mightily.
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I read about a whole bunch of them this past week.
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I don't have time to get into all of them, but I will mention one.
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How about Paul, right?
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Paul himself being single allowed Paul the opportunity to evangelize the Roman world and write holy Spirit-inspired letters that guide, encourage, and bless the churches even until today." So I guess Paul being single adds quite a bit of credibility to this Spirit-inspired truth that he wrote.
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He says, "Hey, are you single?
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You're saved from a lot of distractions." All right, three advantages of being single.
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You're saved from certain troubles.
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You're safe from distraction.
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Number three, you're safe from obligation.
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One more, you're safe from obligation.
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Paul says a wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives.
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But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
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Yet in my judgment, she is happier if she remains as she is.
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And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.
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I love that last statement.
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Paul's like, 'cause you know that people are gonna be reading this and hearing this like, "Oh, come on, Paul, that's just your opinion." And he's like, "Yeah, I think I have the Holy Spirit too." So you're saved from obligation.
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Paul says, "If your spouse dies, You can marry another believer.
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Paul says, "Yet you'll be happier to stay single." But, Paul says, "Once you marry, you are bound as long as your spouse lives." He's talking about the obligation to the marriage.
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The most important choice you will ever make for however long you have on the earth, the The most important choice is whether or not you are going to turn from your sin and turn to Jesus Christ and receive Him as your Lord and Savior.
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That is the most important choice you will ever make.
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Do you know what the second most important choice is that you will ever make?
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Is the person that you decide to marry.
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Because there's no going back.
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At least not in God's eyes.
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There's no going back.
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It's more important than choosing a college major.
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It's more important than choosing a career.
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It's more important than choosing a tattoo.
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More important than all these, who you marry, because it's a covenant before God.
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It's a sacred thing in the eyes of God.
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In the eyes of God, you're bound for life, and Paul's reminding, hey, when you're bound to a spouse, there is no more liberty that comes with being single.
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You know, in Matthew chapter 19, Jesus was talking about marriage and divorce and adultery.
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He was being challenged, and we've talked about that passage even very recently.
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And Jesus gave his teaching on what it means to be married and defining divorce and adultery and all of that.
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Well, the disciples heard all this, and this was their response to Jesus.
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After hearing the Lord teach about marriage, this is what the disciples said in response to Jesus.
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The disciples said to Him, "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it's better not to marry." Go back and read that whole passage, and you'll see they got it.
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They were not rebuked for this statement.
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Jesus is like, "Yeah, but not everybody can receive that, but yeah, they got it." Marriage is not for everyone, but there is a special wisdom and dedication that single people are gifted, right?
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Our worship team would make their way back up front.
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Single people, do you have the gift of being single?
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Do you have that gift?
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You're like, "You know, I really think this might be God's gift for me, being single." Is that you?
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Well, I want to say something to you.
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On the authority of the Word of God, it is not inferior to being married.
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In fact, God says very clearly, in a lot of ways, it is better.
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But for those of you who are single and you're struggling to know, "Do I have the gift?
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I'm not sure if I have the gift.
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What does God have for me?" Today I just want you to consider the benefits that the Word of God laid out, that there are troubles, distractions, and obligations that you're going to be saved from.
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Let's pray.
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in heaven, we thank you for your Word. And I know this can be a touchy and emotional subject, but I thank you. I thank you for the tone in which you inspired Paul to communicate this, that it wasn't some hard-nosed, snarky, legalistic thing at all, but just an objective look at reality.
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God, You give gifts.
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Your Word is so clear.
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You give gifts to each one of us, and for some, Father, You've given the gift of singleness, and I pray a special blessing on those that You have so set aside for specific types of ministry that married people are unable to do.
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Father, for the single people here maybe who are struggling, not sure if it's their gift, I just ask, Father, that you would maybe use this message to give them direction on what it is exactly you do have for them.
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For the rest of us, Father, show us how we can love and encourage our single brothers and sisters without making them feel like they're on a second tier path because according to your word, it's kind of the opposite.
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Give us wisdom, Father, in all these things we ask in Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read 1 Corinthians 7:25-40
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Give some examples of “troubles” that come in marriage (internal and external) that single people are spared.
How exactly are single people able to serve Jesus without “divided interests” (1 Cor 7:33)?
What are some ways the church can reach single people for discipleship (without allowing it to become just a “match-making ministry”)?
Breakout
Pray for one another.
